The budget for FY 2015-16 looks to levy Value Added Tax (VAT) on private universities, and medical and engineering colleges.

In his budget speech in Parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said: “Although VAT at a truncate rate of 7.5 percent is currently levied on English medium schools. private universities, private medical colleges and private engineering colleges are still beyond the boundary of the VAT net.”

The finance minister proposed to impose VAT at 10 percent on these educational institutions, a rate he described would keep “the tax burden at a rational level”.